


a shimmer, a shadow

by lionquiet



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23219233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionquiet/pseuds/lionquiet
Summary: “What — what year is it?” Lena’s throat is raw as she forces the words out.“We had to induce a coma while we got the swelling under control.” Lena opens her eyes to find a woman in scrubs smiling at her. “You were only out for about a week, so it’s still 2019.”Lena is surprised by the sudden rush of tears to her eyes.“I had… I think it was a dream?” she says, voice shaking either at the admission or from the pain. “I was back in 2009, with my friends in college. It felt like months.”//After an accident at her lab in 2019, Lena wakes up in her freshman dorm room, unable to remember how she got there until her dreams begin to reveal glimpses of her future. She starts to piece together her life — and all of the ways it went wrong, starting with her roommate, Kara.Can she do anything to stop it? Or was it all just a dream?The accidental-time-travel AU.…or is it?
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52





	a shimmer, a shadow

At first, she thinks it’s an elaborate dream. One minute, she’s in a lab, working on... well, she can’t quite remember what exactly it was she was working on at that particular moment. The next thing Lena knows, she’s waking up in what appears to be her freshman dorm room — and an alarm clock is blaring. 

“Shit,” she says, slamming her eyes shut as she stretches for the snooze button. Her head is pounding in a way that she’s never experienced before, and the sun feels like it’s boring its way straight into her brain from the slots in the blinds. 

“Party too hard last night?” A voice has Lena snapping her head to the side. She immediately regrets it, raising a hand to nurse her now-throbbing temple. 

“Sorry,” the voice says again, now a whisper. Lena cracks open her eyes to see Kara Danvers crouched in front of her bed. She blinks. Once, then twice. This cannot be happening. 

Lena’s face must reflect her shock, because Kara hesitates before smiling. “I was joking, but seriously, you look like you went through hell and back last night. How late were you out?” 

“Last... night?” Lena repeats, awestruck at the sight of Kara Danvers not two feet in front of her. She hasn’t seen Kara in... what has it been, ten years? 

This has to be a dream. This can’t be real. She must be asleep at her lab, or maybe in her office, and — 

Kara’s hand lands on her forehead, followed by her lips a second later. 

“Lena!” she exclaims, pulling back. “Gosh, you’re burning up. I gotta get you some medicine.” 

A fever. That sounds about right, given her level of confusion. It’s the only thing that makes sense in this whole scenario, though. Why is she in her freshman dorm? Why is her roommate turned best friend turned... ex- _something_ here? And why can’t Lena remember? Not just how she got here, but Lena can't remember anything substantial at all. Her entire life up to this point is drifting from her memory like a bad dream. 

How long has it been since she’s last seen Kara? More importantly, what happened between them that they’d stopped being in each other’s lives in the first place? Maybe Kara finally figured out Lena's annoyingly obvious feelings for her and given her the boot. Maybe Lena had gotten tired of acting like a love-sick teenager around the girl and ran away. Whatever had happened, it apparently doesn't matter now, with Kara fretting around her like a concerned mother. 

_This is a dream._ A particularly lucid one, maybe, but a dream nonetheless.

Kara returns, holding out two pills and a glass of water.

“Here,” she says, pushing the pills into Lena’s hands.

“Thank you.” She takes an extra large sip of water, hoping to use the time to collect her bearings.

It doesn’t help. Lena is still inexplicably in her college dorm room, staring at her roommate who she hasn’t seen since freshman year, and she can’t for the life of her remember how she got there. 

“I’m going to kill Jack,” Kara mutters under her breath.

“Jack?”

The name itself is like a punch to the gut. Jack Spheer: Lena’s best friend who’d died in a motorcycle accident years ago, a pain she remembers even with her pounding headache. What a cruel dream for her mind to conjure. 

“Jack is — he’s here?” Lena asks, voice still raspy.

“Yeah...” Kara actually looks afraid now. “Lena, are you okay?”

Lena nods, then immediately regrets it. “Except for my head, I think so.” 

_This is a dream,_ she repeats, looking around the room slowly. But as far as dreams go, it’s an impressive one. The attention to detail is astounding, from the posters on the walls to the unkempt state of Kara’s side of the room. It’s all exactly as she remembers it. Maybe she’s dead, and this is just the desperate attempts of her brain to bring her someplace she was happy for her last moments. 

Lena frowns — that’s a little dark, even for her. 

“Drink more water,” Kara instructs. She crosses her arms as she looks at Lena. Lena can’t help but stare back as she obeys. It’s not just that Kara’s beautiful, though of course that’s as true as it’s always been — it’s that she can’t remember the last time she saw Kara, and the sight of her alone is enough to leave Lena breathless. Then there’s the fact that Kara is _talking_ to her. She can’t remember what happened between them, but she’s pretty sure that it didn’t leave them on speaking terms. 

Usually her dreams are a lot more stressful — failed tests, experiments gone wrong, people from her past coming back to berate her, her mother’s last moments. Never do her dreams involve being cared for by someone like Kara Danvers. 

Lena’s phone buzzes on her nightstand. She freezes as soon as it’s in her hand, frowning at the weight of it. This isn’t her current phone — it’s her old one, from years before. She marvels at the sight of it, running her fingers over buttons that she hasn't seen in years. 

_This is a very specific, very odd dream._

Her eyes scan over the email — something about a homework assignment from a professor whose class she barely remembers. It takes a second, but it sends Lena reeling in a whole new direction. In her dreams, she can never make out text on her phone. The words always appear in a jumbled mess, and it’s often a point of frustration in her nightmares as she tries desperately to call for help but misdials. 

Apparently she must look particularly distressed, because Kara crosses the room to frown at her again. “We need to get you some breakfast,” she announces, and the next thing Lena knows a sweater is being tossed at her face. 

// 

The walk to the dining hall is warm and sunny, and Lena takes in the vivid detail of her surroundings on their way there. She’s never had a dream like this — is this what lucid dreaming is supposed to be like? Because she can feel the air on her skin, smell the fresh cut grass in the quad, and everything she thought was real feels more and more like a distant memory by the second. 

Maybe the rest of her life was a dream, and this is what’s real. 

That couldn’t be, right? She’s sure she wouldn’t have drank _that_ much, even if she can’t recall the night before. 

The dining hall looks exactly like she remembers it. The first thing that hits her is the smell — the overwhelming sweetness of the syrup that they use on just about everything in the mornings. It’s followed by the hushed noise of the students, most of whom are still half-asleep. 

All Lena can think about is coffee. 

Kara follows her around as Lena fills up her tray, the same concerned look stuck on her face. “You should have some carbs,” she says when Lena selects an omelette and asparagus. “For your hangover.” 

She decides not to argue — for all she knows at this point, she _is_ suffering from some sort of alcohol-induced delirium. Lena scans the options, and chooses some whole wheat toast. 

“Boring,” Kara comments. Lena smiles, but can’t seem to find the right words to respond. Her mind is still spiraling around everything that’s transpired in the last twenty minutes. 

Lena is back in college, Kara Danvers is still her friend, and Jack Spheer is _alive._ It has to be a dream.

They sit down at a table, and the cold metal chairs are just as uncomfortable as Lena remembers them.

“So I was talking to Alex about that girl from your Econ class — Sam? They met at that party the other night. The two of you are friends, right?”

Lena shrugs. “Sam Arias? Yes, I guess you could say that.”

Friends isn’t quite the way she would describe her relationship with the CFO of her company, but Sam is probably the closest personal relationship she has now. Had? Lena still isn’t sure.

They’d gotten to know each other in college, but had parted ways after that until Sam’s resume came across her desk a few years later. They’d had a cordial relationship ever since, but that’s the best Lena can say for even her most valued employees. 

The sudden rush of memories startles her, but they fade as quickly as they’ve come. Her head throbs again, and she tries to ignore it as Kara responds. “I thought you said she was ‘smart but not in a snobby way.’ I told Alex to go for it — are you saying that was a bad idea?” 

“Right, yes, she is, of course. Sam is a very smart woman, ” Lena says, hand pushing into her temple. “I just didn’t realize she’s gay, that’s all.” 

“Alex?”

“Sam.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kara says. “I didn’t exactly ask, I just introduced them at James’ shindig Friday. Which you missed, by the way — where were you?”

Lena blanches. She has absolutely no idea where she was ten years ago on a Friday night. “I was — I was... busy, I suppose?” 

“Right. Okay. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re worrying me,” Kara says, frowning. “You’re talking... strangely? I mean, you just called Sam a ‘woman.’ And you’re still at least five degrees too warm, and you haven’t even touched your toast.” 

Lena sighs. Even if this is a dream, she doesn’t want to deal with an upset Kara. She takes a bite of toast. “I’m sorry. I can’t really explain it, just — everything feels fuzzy. Nothing feels... real. Like I’m dreaming, almost.” 

“Hm.” Kara reaches forward and gives a gentle pinch to Lena’s cheek. “Does this feel real?” 

Her skin heats under Kara’s touch. “Very.” 

Kara’s eyes shine as she smiles, and Lena can’t look away. “Good, not a dream then.” She picks up another french toast stick. “Besides, if this were a dream, I’d have like a thousand more of these guys.” 

Lena snorts. “Not in my dream, you wouldn’t.” 

Kara rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t respond, opting instead to take a gigantic bite out of her breakfast. Lena stares. Again. She has a feeling she’s going to be doing a lot of that today. 

If Kara is bashful under Lena’s gaze, she doesn’t show it. She wipes at a stray bit of syrup on the corner of her mouth as she speaks. “Hey — I have this um, a cappella concert tomorrow night. Do you think you’d want to come?” 

The words echo in her mind, a distinct feeling of deja vu taunting her. It’s like she remembers this, almost. Maybe it wasn’t quite this situation, but this has happened before, she’s sure of it. 

“That sounds nice,” Lena replies evenly, thoughts a racing current in the background. She tries her hardest to remember how this went last time, but she can’t. Her mind is excruciatingly blank, chasing a thought that no longer exists. She can feel in her gut that this ended badly, but beyond that, Lena is clueless. 

“You sure?” Kara asks, sensing Lena’s trepidation.

“Yes, yeah — sorry,” Lena says. “Headache.”

“Right,” Kara says. She nudges Lena’s coffee cup a little closer. “Drink up.”

//

The coffee and toast does make her feel somewhat better, though her head won’t stop throbbing violently every time she so much as glances towards a light. Kara lends her a pair of sunglasses, and though they’re ridiculously large and in a ghastly color that she would never wear, Lena’s grateful. 

“Migraines suck,” Kara says, dismissing Lena’s thanks. “My mom used to get them all the time. I’ve only gotten a few, but they knocked me on my butt.” 

“Any home remedies?” Lena inquires, because she’d be willing to try just about anything to get her head on straight so she can start figuring out just what the hell is going on here. 

Kara shrugs. “Honestly? Weed.”

“ _What_?!”

Kara blinks at her. “What?”

“You — Kara Danvers — smoke weed?”

Kara shifts. “I mean, you don’t?” 

“No,” Lena replies. “I’ve never.” 

“Really?” Kara seems just as shocked as Lena does. This is strange — this is the first new thing that’s happened since this weird maybe-not-a-dream has started. The rest of it was familiar — her room, breakfasts with Kara — but information about Kara that she hadn’t previously known? Strange, indeed. 

“Really,” Lena confirms. “How do you even get it? I can’t picture you in a dark alley.” 

“No one gets weed in a dark alley, Lena. Also, I have a medical card — for the migraines.” 

“The ones that you’ve only gotten a few times?” 

Kara rolls her eyes. “Because of the weed! It’s not even strong stuff, and I only use it a little.” 

Lena looks at Kara. She’d lived with her a whole year, and never noticed. This has to be some figment of her imagination, right? This practically confirms the whole dream theory. 

“Right,” Lena says. “Okay then. So you’re a stoner.”

“What? No!”

“Who’d have thought? Kara Danvers.” Lena tries to sound like she’s chiding her friend, but she can’t stop the smile from tugging at her lips. “I’m learning so much about you right now.” 

Kara blushes. “Shut up.” She looks around for a second, and Lena has a feeling she’s searching for a change of subject. “So, are you feeling up for class?” 

Oh, right. Class. It seems like a silly thing to waste her time on if this is a dream. “No, I don’t think so.” 

“Good, you need the rest. I have to get to my 11:40, but our room is on the way if you want me to walk you?” 

Lena considers it, then shakes her head. “I think I could use the alone time, actually.” 

“Oh, okay,” Kara says, barely hiding the disappointment in her voice. “No worries, I’ll just — I’ll see you later?” 

“Later,” Lena nods as she replies. She watches Kara as she retreats, wondering just how long this is going to last. Should she follow Kara, get to enjoy as much time with her as possible before she wakes up from this strange state? 

Kara surprises her by turning back around, and it’s too late to pretend that she hadn’t been staring. 

“Have a good day!” Kara shouts with a smile and a wave, and Lena hopes Kara is too far to see her blushing — maybe she could blame it on the fever. 

// 

Lena doesn’t know where to go at first. She rarely had a free minute during the year she went to this school before she transferred across the country. She walks past the library, but she figures that’s almost as boring as spending her dream in class. 

So Lena walks to the lake. It’s on the far side of campus, and as such it’s a bit of a hike that she rarely had time for all those years ago - except for when she really needed to be alone. Now is definitely one of those times. 

She’s happy to find it deserted this time of day, when most people are in class. Lena feels an odd pang of guilt at the idea of skipping a lecture, something she almost never did when she was in school. It’s ridiculous, of course, since none of this is real, but... she still can’t quite shake the feeling as she makes her way to the bench on the far side of the lake. 

Lena sits and stares ahead, trying her best to remember what it was she was doing before she woke up... well, here. A flash, a bang, and then.... nothing. She can’t remember what she was working on, she barely remembers where she was. Her own lab, she thinks — though that memory is becoming vaguer and vaguer. She’d owned a tech company, but at this point she thinks she only knows that much because she’d had that glimpse of memory of Sam Arias working for her. 

The rest is in bits and pieces, her mind left hopelessly chasing thoughts that fade as fast as they arrive. 

She’s not sure how much time has passed when she’s pulled out of the frustrating loop by her phone buzzing in her pocket. Lena considers ignoring it for a moment — she has much more important things to be doing — but her curiosity gets the better of her. Who has her dream conjured up now? 

Lena is not prepared for Jack’s face — a photo he’d taken of himself and set as his contact photo when Lena wasn’t looking — lighting up her phone screen. She doesn’t hesitate before pressing the green button and raising the phone to her ear. 

“Jack?” 

“Oh good, I didn’t kill you last night,” his voice comes through the phone, and she nearly drops it. “Though you must be pretty damn hungover if you’re missing chemistry.” 

Lena can't speak, her voice caught in the tangle of emotions in her throat. Her eyes burn with tears, and she holds in a shaking breath. 

“Lena? Have I lost you?” 

“Sorry I'm — I'm here,” she says, sniffling. “I must have bad service. I'm down by the lake.” 

“So you _are_ skiving off.” Jack chuckles, and Lena smiles in spite of the tears in her eyes. “Well, I couldn’t bear a Professor Fallot lecture without you, so I cut out early. Have you eaten?” 

“I just got breakfast with Kara. You're on her shit list, by the way,” Lena says.

“When am I not?”

Lena laughs, Jack joins her, and for a second she forgets that none of this is her real life anymore and feels... happy. Then she remembers that this is probably some cruel trick of her imagination, and her mood flattens. It's not fair that she has to settle for hearing Jack’s voice over the phone when she'd give anything to see him one last time. Then again, anything seems possible in this dream. Why not test its limits? 

“You want to join me?” 

“Really?” Jack sounds surprised, and Lena can't blame him. She'd never invited anyone down here with her, least of all Jack. Half the time she was coming here to get away from him. Lena had been so stupid, ignorant to how precious every minute with him would be. 

“Yes, really. I’d love that.”

//

It only takes ten minutes for Jack to arrive, and Lena spends the entire time preparing herself for the sight of him. It doesn’t work.

He comes up over the hill, and her heart drops. He’s wearing the same old winter coat he’s had since they were in high school. It barely fits him in anymore, but he always insisted that it didn’t need replacing. It was still “perfectly good,” in his eyes, even if Lena had to sew a patch in the elbow. Lena had never been so happy to see the ratty old thing. 

“She lives!” Jack calls as soon as he’s within distance. He has two coffee cups in his hands, but nothing could stop Lena from jumping to her feet and springing forward to hug him. He can’t quite hug back because of the coffee, but he does his best to hold her steady as she barrels into him. “Whoa, hey — are you okay?” 

“Sorry, I just... I missed you,” Lena whispers, her head still buried against his chest. He’s warm, and the rough fabric of the jacket rubs across her cheek. 

“It _has_ been a long fifteen hours.” Jack pulls away and holds out one of the cups. “Coffee?” 

“It really has, thanks.” If only he knew how long it has really been. Lena takes the cup, then takes a long sip as she tries to blink away the rush of tears in her eyes. She watches as Jack takes a seat on the bench, and has to resist the urge to reach forward and grab him again. She settles for sitting next to him on the bench, though she can’t take her eyes off of him. She can’t believe he’s here in front of her, alive and breathing — as far as she can tell. 

“Still recovering from last night I gather?” he asks, looking at her with concern. 

If this is a dream, it’s a powerful one. Lena hasn’t been able to recall Jack’s voice in this much vivid detail in years. The lilt of his accent, the warmth of his tone — it’s all there. 

Lena nods slowly as she tries to find her words. “What did we even do?” 

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up. “Oh, wow, so it’s that kind of recovery. You seriously don’t remember anything? I didn’t think you’d had _that_ much.” 

“I guess I must have,” Lena says, narrowing her eyes as she looks at him. She had been convinced this all was a figment of her imagination until Jack appeared in front of her. Now, she’s not so sure. What if this is what’s real, and her other life was just some strange, drunken dream? 

“Well, it was just the usual Sunday; Sinclair’s for drinks until you two were at each other’s throats again, then I walked you home.” 

“Oh,” Lena says, expecting more. One of Veronica’s parties shouldn’t have been enough to through her this off-kilter, dreaming of an incredibly lonely life years in the future. And yet... could it be? 

“So, now that you’re taking the day off — got anything fun planned?”

Lena frowns. “Fun?” It hadn’t occurred to her.

“Yeah, you know. Stuff that makes you feel good, maybe laugh a little, induces something the kids are calling... happiness?”

“Shut up,” Lena says, though she can’t stop herself from smiling at Jack. The smile falters after a moment when she realizes she can no longer remember what exactly had happened to him in her supposed ‘real life.’ She knows he was gone - dead, for sure - but the how escapes her. 

“Then again, I suppose you don’t need to be told how to have a good time, judging by last night,” Jack says. 

Lena forces herself out of her thoughts to respond. “Hey now, if I remember correctly, one of us has already accepted the blame for my hangover.” 

“Yeah, I’m afraid that rests squarely on my shoulders. I have been told I have a heavy hand.” 

“Thanks for that,” Lena says.

“Well, let me make it up to you, yeah? Lunch?”

“I practically just ate,” Lena says, but Jack is already shaking his head.

“Dining hall food, sure. But everyone knows the best cure for a hangover is cuisine that’s... well, disgusting, at best, and I know just the place.”

// 

“Kara’s going to be so mad at me,” Lena says as she stares up at the sign. 

Noonan’s Diner - Kara had tried countless times to convince Lena to come here with her, and Lena always found an excuse to say no. 

“She’ll get over it. Besides, Kara of all people will know that this is the place to go when you want to squash a hangover. Their burgers are divine - in an artery clogging sort of way.” 

“Sounds awful,” Lena says, frowning. She can’t remember the last time she ate a burger. Then again, that’s not saying much in her current state. 

They sit in a booth near the window, and when the waiter brings over a pot of coffee Jack asks him to leave it at the table. He pours them each a big cup, and when she thanks him he cracks a smile. 

“You look like you need it.” 

They talk about some mundane things, pausing every few minutes to sip burnt coffee while they wait for the waiter to return and take their order (she gets the burger, at Jack’s insistence). 

It feels silly to talk about classes and homework when there’s so much she would love to tell him, all the things he’s missed out on since... _it_ happened - except she can’t. Not only would he think Lena’s gone crazy - talking about a life that’s yet to happen that he will never get to experience - but she can barley remember any of it herself. 

Jack pulls her out of her thoughts a minute later. “I actually wanted to have a chat with you about something, if you’re feeling up for it.” 

Lena nods, but there’s something in Jack’s tone that leaves her uneasy. “Sure. Is everything alright?” 

“Yes! Yeah. Yes. Sorry, it’s just that — well you’ve been so busy lately, and whenever I see you we’ve already started drinking. So there hasn’t really been a good time, you see, and — are you sure you’re up for talking? You still look like you might be ill at any moment, we could —” 

“Jack, I said it’s fine,” Lena says, offering him a smile. “You don’t have to be so nervous. You can tell me anything.” 

“Yeah?” He looks actually scared, and Lena shifts. Of all the conversations for her dream-state to arrive at, why does it have to be one that makes them both so uncomfortable? 

“Of course. You’re my best friend.” 

It’s meant to be encouraging, but Jack grimaces. “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. I just... I wanted to know what all this means for us.” 

Lena stares back at him. “What do you mean?” 

“I mean...” he sighs, then takes her hand. “You’re leaving at the end of the semester for your big, fancy East Coast life. We’ve been skirting around this for ages and I just think that, before you go off across the country, we should maybe...” Jack takes her hands, pulling them across the table. “I just don’t want to find out in a year that you’re with some bloke and I’ve missed my chance.” 

Lena’s heart jumps into her throat. _Jack_ has — had feelings for her? 

It makes sense, of course. He was her closest friend, her date to every dance in boarding school. They’d been two peas in a pod. In another life, with another Lena, maybe they would’ve been together. 

Lena purses her lips as she chooses her words. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.” 

“Oh?” The hint of hope in Jack’s voice breaks her heart.

“I think I’m — I might be — I’m gay, Jack.”

“Oh.” Jack blinks. “Okay, right. Is... I’m sorry, is this some sort of ‘let me down easy’ thing or something, because you don’t have to—"

“Jack,” Lena cuts him off. “I’m serious. I... I like women.”

They’d never gotten to have this conversation in her “other life.” Lena had always imagined it going well, but judging by the furrow of Jack’s brow, her expectations might have been off. 

“You’re gay,” he says, drawing out the words as he mulls them over. His face goes blank for a few seconds, then he nods. “Of course you are. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” 

“I mean I really just figured it out myself,” Lena says. It’s not technically the truth, but it feels appropriate in this situation. 

“Of course you did,” he says with a sad smile. “It’s Kara, right?” Lena splutters. “I — she’s not — what makes you say that?” 

Jack looks at her, then shakes his head, chuckling. Lena isn’t sure what to do. “Of course it’s Kara. I mean, you talk about her constantly. It’s almost fun to count how many times in a day you manage to bring her into the conversation. And god, the way you look at her — yeah, you’re positively smitten. Don’t know how I didn’t see it.” 

“I am not,” Lena argues. And she isn’t — anymore, at least. Years have gone by, or at least they feel like they have to her, and besides that, Lena Luthor is not one to be _smitten_ with someone (even the literal embodiment of sunshine that is Kara Danvers). 

“Sure, sure,” Jack says, though the odd smile doesn’t leave his face. 

Lena isn’t sure whether to laugh along with him or be concerned that he’s not more upset. “So you’re... are you okay with this?” 

Jack’s smile fades into a more serious look. “Okay with what? Your being gay?” Lena nods, a sudden tension in her chest.

Jack leans towards her. “Lena, darling, you are my best friend. Nothing will ever change that.”

Lena relaxes a little. “So we’re going to be okay?”

“I’m not going to lie, I am a bit crushed. I think it’s going to take some time,” Jack admits. Lena tries to smile as she nods, but her throat is tight. If her dream life was right - some sort of prediction of her future, maybe - time is the one thing Jack doesn’t have. He squeezes her hand as if he can sense her worry. “We’ll be okay, love.” 

// 

Jack drops her off near her dorm, but she takes another long walk before heading back to her room. She needs some time before seeing Kara again, not ready for another barrage of memories. 

She wanders around campus until the sun sets, then decides that it’s probably not a good idea for her to be out by herself after dark in her current state. There’s a pretty solid chance she would forget the way back to the dormitory and end up wandering in the cold for hours. 

To her relief, she finds the way back easily, even remembering a shortcut or two. Kara’s at her desk when Lena gets up to the room. 

She looks up as soon as Lena enters, whatever homework she was doing suddenly abandoned. “Hey, how are you feeling?” 

“A little better,” Lena answers honestly as she closes the door behind her. “My head still hurts, but nothing like this morning.” 

Kara smiles. “Good. I was worried when I didn't hear from you.” 

“Sorry about that. I was out with Jack — not drinking,” she adds when Kara shoots her a look. “We were just... talking. It was nice.” 

“That’s good,” Kara says. She watches Lena as she puts down her bag and sits on her bed. “So, you still up for movie night?” 

Movie night — a tradition she had entirely forgotten about. Kara was appalled when she first learned how few films Lena had seen growing up. There were things Kara considered classics that Lena had never even heard of — so Kara vowed to “show her the light” over the course of their two semesters together - which meant Monday movie nights. 

Lena drapes her coat over the chair. “Depends,” she says, playing coy. “What's playing?” 

Kara grins as she grabs her laptop, carrying it over to her bed. “When Harry Met Sally. It’s a classic.” 

“What’s it about?” 

“A love story,” Kara admits in a voice that says she knows Lena will disapprove. She cuts her off before Lena can protest. “You have to just give it a chance.” 

Lena wasn’t really planning on arguing, especially not when Kara pats the blanket next to her. Lena climbs onto Kara’s bed, lets Kara slip an arm around her and pull her in close.

She rests her heads on Kara’s shoulder, tension from her incredibly strange day dissolving into the familiar intimacy of _Kara._ Lena might not be able to remember what she had done to mess this up the first time around, but this — whatever impossible thing is happening to her — feels a lot like a second chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey ya'll! I've been working on this fic for more than a year now (as you can probably tell from the references to 2019), but now I finally have time to finish it and start posting. Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Also, I had a lot of trouble getting this from my text editor to AO3, so if you see any formatting errors (mostly errant dashes in the middle of words, or line spacing issues) please let me know!


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